Disaster unless repentance.

“‘Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction.’” (Jeremiah 6:1)

The whole of chapter six is of great importance for an understanding of the nature of God that is revealed through Jeremiah’s writing. There is probably no other chapter in the Book of Jeremiah that more clearly encapsulates both the justice and the love of God, and also the tenderness of his care for his covenantal people.

The Heart of God

In his times of standing in the Council of the Lord, Jeremiah senses the grief in the heart of God as he looks at what is happening among the people with whom he established a covenant relationship of love.

The chapter begins with the command to sound the trumpet warning of the approach of a mighty army that will bring destruction upon the cities of Judah. Then there follows: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy’” (Jer 6:22-23).

Jeremiah then adds his own plea: “We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us,… Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us” (Jer 6:24-26).

Although these reports are clearly about the Babylonian army being on the move, it would be a mistake to think that this was a warning from God telling them to prepare the defences of Jerusalem and put the army of Judah on red alert to resist an invasion. Certainly, this was an accurate description of the international situation. But the whole purpose of this chapter is not to warn about a Babylonian attack even though Jeremiah could see it as vividly as though it were already taking place.

Jeremiah senses the grief in the heart of God over his covenant people.

The Real Danger

The danger is not from the Babylonians. The danger is that God will withdraw his covering of protection over the land and over his covenant people because they have broken the covenant and poured out wickedness, violence and corruption like a fountain gushing out water from a well (Jer 6:7). The next verse delivers the heart of the message: “‘Take warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so that no one can live in it’” (Jer 6:8).

This is a poor translation that fails to express the heart of the message that Jeremiah is trying to convey. The Authorised Version gets closer to the Hebrew for this verse – “Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.” The command to ‘be instructed’ (Hebrew ysr) or to ‘learn a lesson’ is not a warning or threat as the NIV states. It is a cry from the heart of God for the people he loves who are so unfaithful to him. It represents an element of indecision in the heart of God that is similar to that reflected in Hosea: “‘My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man – the Holy One among you. I will not come [in wrath]’” (Hos 11:8-9).

That was said shortly before God withdrew his covering of protection over the northern Kingdom of Israel and allowed the Assyrian army to ravage the land and take the people into exile. Jeremiah was constantly aware that this same tragedy could fall upon the southern Kingdom of Judah where the people were just as idolatrous and unfaithful as their northern brothers and sisters had been. The fate that befell Israel was now looming over Judah.

The danger is that God will withdraw his covering of protection over the land because his people have broken the covenant.

Words of Warning

It was Jeremiah’s prophetic calling to blow the trumpet in Jerusalem, but all his words of warning were ignored, “To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so that they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. But I am full of the wrath of the Lord, and I cannot hold it in.” (Jer 6:10-11).

Jeremiah’s dilemma was a reflection of what he saw in the heart of God. He knew God’s great love for his people, yet he knew God to be a God of righteousness who was utterly faithful in keeping his promises. Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had delivered his people from slavery in Egypt and had brought them into the Promised Land, had established a solemn covenant: so long as people were faithful to him, worshipping no other god and putting their trust in him, he would watch over them, protect them, bless them and give them prosperity.

But if they were faithless and turned away from him to the gods of the world, he could do no other than withdraw his presence and the power of his protection. This was the fate that had befallen Israel and was now about to fall upon Judah. Jeremiah sensed a moment of indecision in the heart of God: the fate of Judah did not depend upon Nebuchadnezzar or the army of Babylon. It depended entirely upon God.

Jeremiah knew God to be a God of righteousness who is utterly faithful to his covenant promises.

The Need for Repentance

There was still just the faintest chance that Judah would be spared the inevitable disaster. God had not yet declared: “‘Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law’” (Jer 6:19).

If there were the slightest sign of repentance – a recognition of their wrongdoing and a willingness to seek the forgiveness of the Lord and put their trust in him, God would remain faithful to keep his word. The Babylonian army would be powerless to put a foot upon the soil of Judah: Jerusalem would be safe because God is a God who keeps his word and he is the God of Creation who could wipe out the Babylonian army at a stroke.

The fate of Judah depended upon people hearing and heeding the word of the Lord. Disaster was inevitable unless there was repentance. The “UNLESS” was still there: but for how long?

This article is part of a series on the life and ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah. Click here for previous instalments.

God’s warning to humanity.

“I looked at the earth and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger. This is what the LORD says: ‘The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely. Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.’” (Jeremiah 4:23-28)

This is not an easy passage to understand but it has a message of immense significance for us today. It is essential to recognise that in the Hebrew this is poetry and it is not intended to be read as literal prophecy. It is a prophetic vision given to Jeremiah to enable him to perceive the eschatological truth embedded into God’s act of creation and his purposes for humanity.

“O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved”

The poem has to be seen in the context of the warnings given in this chapter of the impending destruction that will befall the whole land of Judah and Jerusalem unless the people heed the trumpet call and repent of their evil ways. Jeremiah expresses this previously in verse 14: “O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved”. In the next verse he spells out the physical danger facing the nation from the advance of the Babylonian army.

An Urgent Message for Jerusalem

Jeremiah describes the northernmost tribe of Dan seeing the advance of the Babylonians and sending an urgent message to Jerusalem from the hills of Ephraim, warning them that a cruel enemy is on the war-path who will overwhelm all the small nations around Judah before eventually attacking Jerusalem itself: “Tell this to the nations, proclaim concerning Jerusalem: ‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah’” (Jer 4:16). Jeremiah is given a specific warning from God: “‘They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me,’ declares the LORD” (Jer 4:17).

At the end of chapter 4, in verses 29 to 31, Jeremiah returns to the theme of warning about a physical attack coming from an army on horseback as well as infantry and archers. He says the attack is coming upon every town, and he sees people taking flight into the countryside, hiding among the rocks, and leaving the towns deserted. But the people of Jerusalem ignore the warning signs and behave like a prostitute would; looking at herself in the mirror, admiring her beauty, putting on her scarlet dress, adorning herself with heavy make-up and jewels, unaware of the danger about to descend upon her. Then it happens! She is brutally raped. She is in great pain. She cries out, gasping for breath, but it is too late – “‘Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers’” (Jer 4:31).

In the midst of these dire warnings of an actual attack from the Babylonians, Jeremiah is given this apocalyptic poem that should not be read as predictive prophecy, but rather as divine revelation of the ultimate purposes of God the Creator of the Universe.

The Creational Purposes of God

In the biblical account of the creation of human beings, God gave them freedom of will and the ability to exercise dominion, or power, over the whole order of creation, both animal and material. In due time God revealed his teaching (Torah) through Moses to the people of Israel whom he called into a covenant relationship of servanthood and through whom he would reveal his nature and purposes to humankind. The poem we are studying today from Jeremiah 4:23-28, is prefaced by a single statement in verse 22. It is in the first person singular and comes from God himself to his covenant people: “‘My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.’”

There comes a point in the history of the world when the wickedness of humankind becomes so intense that their evil deeds threaten the well-being of the whole of creation.

This is the tragic history of Israel. Apart from a remnant throughout the ages (Rom 11), they have never understood the creation purposes of God. They have never understood the reason why God called them into a covenant relationship with himself in order to carry out his missionary purpose of taking his salvation to all nations.

The Consequences of Rebellion

In this prophetic poem Jeremiah is shown the consequences of the rebellion of human beings and their rejection of the good purposes of God. There comes a point in the history of the world when the wickedness of humankind becomes so intense that their evil deeds threaten the well-being of the whole of creation. The poem envisions a time when the entire universe is affected; the earth returns to its original formless chaos at the beginning of Creation. The light of the sun and moon and stars are dim; the mountains are shaken, the hills sway and the birds of the air disappear. The fruitful land becomes a desert and the towns lie in ruins as God carries out his purposes of judging the nations that have grossly misused the power God gave them at the Creation.

Final Judgment

Jeremiah is the first to receive this prophetic revelation of the ultimate purposes of God. Some 70 years later, at the end of the Exile, the Prophet Haggai was given the revelation that the day would come when God would “shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land” and would “shake all nations” (Hag 2:6-7). Jesus speaks of the time coming when “there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now” (Matt 24:21). At that time Jesus says, he will return to earth and “all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matt 25:32).

The moral and spiritual pollution of humanity is the root cause of the damage done to the physical creation.

There are other passages in the New Testament that speak of the days when God will deal with the lawlessness and wickedness of human beings “who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness” (2 Thess 2:12). And Peter describes, in apocalyptic terms, ‘The Day of the Lord’: He says that day “will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (2 Pet 3:10).

These words should give us insight as to how God looks with horror at the wickedness of our civilisation and the way we have misused and polluted the whole created order, and corrupted the human nature that he gave us.

The United Nations has issued a strong warning that a great many species are threatened with extinction due to human activity¹, but what they fail to notice is the moral and spiritual pollution of humanity that is the root cause of the damage done to the physical creation. Jeremiah’s poem is a revelation from God intended to bring a severe warning to humanity of the consequences of our wickedness – and that the day will undoubtedly come when God will judge the human beings he created in his own image – a message that is desperately needed to be heard today!

The day will undoubtedly come when God will judge the human beings he created in his own image.

References

1 Planet on 'path to catastrophe' as million species threatened, warns UN report. Sky News, 6 May 2019.

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.

Britain’s position before God.

In this deeply significant phase of Britain’s history, it is of the utmost importance for us to be clear on our nation’s standing with God. In this article we consider some passages from the Prophet Jeremiah that are directly relevant to our situation.

Speaking First to Judah

Jeremiah spoke for around 40 years to Judah, often through tears, up to the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. As a young man, Jeremiah saw the best of days for Judah. He began to prophesy in the days of Josiah (Jer 1:2), whose account is in 2 Kings 22-23. Josiah led the people of Judah to return to the Law of Moses, cleansed the land of idolatry, restored the Temple and celebrated the Feasts of the Lord in Jerusalem. It was said of him:

Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his might, according to the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him. (2 Kings 23:25)

As a young man, Jeremiah would have experienced these good and blessed times in his nation. These would have stood in stark contrast to the days of decline that followed – but these were inevitable. Judah had already fallen so far, prior to King Josiah, that God’s anger was turned back only temporarily, during Josiah’s reign:

Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was aroused against Judah, because of the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. (2 Kings 23:26)

Britain: Hope or Concern?

There are applications from this period of Judah’s history that we can apply to modern Britain.

In Jeremiah’s day, blessings on the nation as a whole depended on how they were led. It was the King’s responsibility to lead the nation according to God’s laws. In our day and our nation, the monarch has a prominent role, but so do the Government and all the institutions that exercise authority on behalf of the Crown.

The Prophet Jeremiah experienced good and blessed times in his nation – which would have stood in stark contrast to the days of decline that followed.

Our current leaders are rapidly descending into the ways of King Manasseh, discarding belief in the God of Israel, opening the way for any and every form of idolatry, rejecting God as Creator, sacrificing our unborn babies and many other things that displease and bring sorrow and anger to Almighty God.

We have also had our good days – days when the truth of the Gospel rang out from our shores and when the Laws of God were engrained in our national heritage. Yet, no more than Judah could rest on the blessed days of Josiah can Britain rest on the blessed days of the past. Just as in the latter days of Judah, there is hope, should we raise up uncompromising leaders like Josiah, but there is also real concern over the extreme vulnerability of our current position.

Conditions for Blessing

When Jeremiah went to the potter’s house (Jeremiah 18) he was shown a principle which applied not only to Judah but to all nations:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. (Jer 18:7-10)

The British Empire in 1897 / See CreditsBritain was once in the former of these situations. Once we were a pagan nation not knowing the ways of God, but gradually, over many years, the laws of God were made central to our culture and national life: the Lord did not destroy us, but built us up.

Now, we are deeply into the latter part of this message. Disaster of some sort is inevitable - likely precipitated by the hardship following a mighty collapse of the economy. What follows remains to be seen. God’s judgments can be redemptive - but it depends on how the nation responds.

No more than Judah could rest on the blessed days of Josiah can Britain rest on the blessed days of the past.

Contrasting 2 Chronicles 7:14

Centuries before Jeremiah’s day, God’s covenant heart for Israel and Judah was shown to Solomon at the time of the dedication of the Temple. Solomon realised that a time would come when his nation would turn from God and he interceded with God in advance to make a way back. That way back, a specific promise for Israel and Judah, was summarised in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

It is time for Christians in Britain to fine-tune their understanding of this and realise that, though we hear the heartbeat of God through this passage, it is nonetheless a promise given directly and only to Israel. We have to twist the meaning of the words “my people” and “their land” to make it read that if Christians pray, God will heal Britain. The Jeremiah 18 passage quoted above requires more than this: namely, repentance across the entire nation.

Of course Christians must pray, but repentance must sweep across the entire nation, especially among its leaders, not just in the Church. We can intercede for others but they themselves must repent (turn from their own sin). Even Jeremiah could not repent on behalf of his nation – hence they went eventually into Babylonian captivity.

Our Responsibility to Israel is Key

There is yet another key passage in Jeremiah that affirms how deeply serious the days are for Britain. In Jeremiah’s day, Babylon was the empire that took Judah into captivity, so the words spoken by Jeremiah were first applied to this empire. Babylon was God’s chosen instrument for judgment but the Babylonians also had responsibilities towards the Jews whilst they were in exile:

This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbours who seize the inheritance I gave to my people Israel, I will uproot them from their land and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country.

And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’ – even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal – then they will be established among my people. But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord. (Jer 12:14-17)

The words also speak of the exile of the Jews among the nations since AD 70 right up to today. A positive consequence of this diaspora is that the lands where the Jews were scattered have been given opportunity to know the God of Israel. In following his ways, foreign nations could be counted among the commonwealth of Israel.

But, if instead these foreign nations reject the God of Israel, especially once he has gathered his people back from exile to their land, the foreign nations will be plucked up and destroyed.

If foreign nations that have hosted Jewish exiles reject this opportunity to follow the God of Israel, they will be plucked up and destroyed.

This is the condition of many Western nations today, having influenced many Jews over the years with their philosophies and false gods. Consider, for example, the way many Jews during recent years have been turned to the New Age movement in both Europe and America.

Now, at the time of the re-gathering of Israel, there is an increased turning to those false gods as the God of Israel works to fulfil his final covenant promises to Israel. The above passage from Jeremiah applies! Britain, America, Russia, Germany and all other countries that have known him and his way, in turning now away from the God of Israel, are setting themselves up for eventual utter destruction.

In these ways, embedded in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, we can discern the deeply vulnerable situation before God, of Britain today. We must seek him whilst there is still time.